Overnight strikes kill 100 in Gaza

GAZA, December 25

Gaza officials have claimed that at least 100 persons were killed in a night as strikes that began hours before midnight persisted into Monday. Palestinian media said Israel stepped up air and ground shelling in central Gaza.

On Xmas, Pope appeals for global peace

Rome: Pope Francis on Monday blasted the weapons industry and its “instruments of death” that fuel wars as he made a Christmas Day appeal for global peace and in particular between Israel and Palestine. Speaking from the loggia of St Peter’s Basilica, he called for the release of hostages and also urged for an end to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Francis said the birthplace of Christ, Bethlehem “is a place of sorrow and silence” this year. AP

A line of Palestinians touched white shrouds containing the bodies of at least 70 people at a funeral on Monday. Palestinian health officials said the deceased were killed by an Israeli airstrike targeting Maghazi in the centre of the besieged strip. Health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said many of those killed at Maghazi were women and children. Medics said an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza killed 23, bringing the overnight Palestinian fatalities to over 100.

Several residents made pleas on social media for people to give them shelter as they have become homeless after leaving their homes in Bureij.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a departure from his usual practice that reflected the current gloom over Gaza, did not attend the midnight vigil, and instead sent a representative. There was no large tree, the usual centrepiece of Bethlehem’s Christmas observances.

Meanwhile, An Israeli air strike outside the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday killed a senior adviser in Iran's Revolutionary Guards, three security sources said. The sources said the adviser, known by his nickname Sayyed Razi Mousavi, was responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Syria and Iran.

Besides, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would not succeed in freeing the remaining hostages held in Gaza without applying military pressure. "We wouldn't have succeeded up until now in releasing more than 100 hostages without military pressure. We won't succeed at releasing all the hostages without military pressure,” Netanyahu said. — Reuters

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